Hi folks, my mk3 superb was in a slight accident and i destroyed one rim, i found it hard to get the same wheel so ended up buying a full set from an octavia vrs... The wheels that were on my superb were ET44 235/45/18, 8inch wide. 

The octavia wheels are ET51 and 225/40/18, 7.5inch wide. now i plan to fit the bigger tyres again, but the shorter width and ET look real brutal being honest, and sit far to far inside the arch for my liking, would a set of spacers fix my problem and if so has anyone got a link i could follow to purchase, i just want them sitting as the original set was. Many thanks for your time. 

To get them to sit exactly the same is 13.3mm

 

So a set of 15mm spacers would work well.

 

https://www.dpmperformance.co.uk/car-parts/skoda/octavia/buy/wheel-spacers

Thanks man👍 this is taking into account the 7.5 and 8 inch difference in rim as well? 

2 hours ago, L33JRU said:

Thanks man👍 this is taking into account the 7.5 and 8 inch difference in rim as well? 

 

Fit the 235/45R18 to the rims first, and see how you get along.

 

ET51 pushes the centre line of the tyre only 7mm further into the wheelarch than ET44, so it's only a small difference.

 

The main reason for the poor aesthetics at the moment is because you have 225/40R18 tyres which are far too small for the big Superb MK3.

 

Spacers are not a good long term option. Being usually made out of aluminium they tend to corrode when used against the steel hub.

 

The 235/45R18 tyre size will work well with the 7.5J rim width. I prefer fitting 235/45R18 tyres to 7.5J rims compared to 8J rims. You get a better ride and the rims are better protected from kerbing damage due to the tyres' sidewalls bulging out slightly more.

 

As you can see in the chart below, you can fit a 235/45 tyre to a rim width between 7.5J to 9J, with 8J being the standard rim width for this tyre size and hence highlighted in bold.

 

ETRTO approved rim widths

235/45 7.5-8.0-9.0

 

Bear in mind that Skoda fit their 215 tyre sizes (ie. 215/60R16, 215/55R17) to ET40 to ET41 rims on the Superb MK3, so fitting a 235/45R18 tyre to an ET51 rim will have the outside edge of the tyre in a similar place to the 215 tyre sizes.

 

The edge of a 7.5Jx18 ET51 rim will be 2.7mm further out in the wheel arch compared to a 6.5Jx16 ET41 rim.

 

Compared to a non-standard 6Jx16 ET43 Karoq rim, the outside edge of a 7.5Jx18 ET51 rim will be 11.05mm further out in the wheel arch.

 

Edited 22 December, 20223 yr by Carlston

Alloy wheels tend to corrode up against the hubs.

Hence we put a bit of grease between them and do not leave them on for 3 years or more from them being fitted at a factory and even with Full Main Dealer Servicing they might never be off for even more than 3 years.

 

Servicing pre or post winter or both is Simply Clever and make sure with cars that if you get a puncture you can change a wheel, which means being able to get it off the car.

 

 

Edited 22 December, 20223 yr by toot

13 minutes ago, toot said:

Alloy wheels tend to corrode up against the hubs.

Hence we put a bit of grease between them and do not leave them on for 3 years or more from them being fitted at a factory and even with Full Main Dealer Servicing they might never be off for even more than 3 years.

 

Servicing pre or post winter or both is Simply Clever and make sure with cars that if you get a puncture you can change a wheel, which means being able to get it off the car.

 

I no longer struggle to get my wheels off even after many years after discovering one simple trick.

 

Undo your wheel bolts by one complete turn (no more). Drive the car two metres (about 6ft 6in), then do the wheel bolts up again.

 

The wheels will now come off easily.

 

What has happened is that under the weight of the car, the rims have moved slightly on the hub centre bore while the car was being driven for two metres and polished the centre bore so that the rims are no longer stubbornly stuck against the hub.

 

Edited 22 December, 20223 yr by Carlston

@Carlston That is good.   What a pity everyone has not you at their side when they find out about dissimilar metals. 

 

I have never struggled to remove wheel spacers.   You just learn things in life as you go along.

4 minutes ago, toot said:

@Carlston That is good.   What a pity everyone has not you at their side when they find out about dissimilar metals. 

 

I have never struggled to remove wheel spacers.   You just learn things in life as you go along.

 

I prefer to buy rims with the offset that I want.

 

Spacers create unnecessary problems with removing and fitting the wheels.

 

Garages will probably charge extra labour costs if they have to mess about with your spacers.

 

Aluminium spacers weigh about 1kg for every 25mm in thickness. So although they may be made out of what many would regard as a light material, spacers are not light.

Really, some people just fit or remove spacers as a matter of course when working on their own cars.

So do as you do, and others will do as they do and have for a long time. 

Not everyone uses garages, and garages only take off wheels when servicing if you pay them. 

 

I have used spacers for many years on offroaders when using different wheel / tyre combinations.  Even approved ones at MSA regulation and scrutineered events. 

Skoda actually fit Spacers to vehicles they take to events as show models and these are driven. 

I am quite sure they could get wheels with the correct offset, but just go with 'the look'. 

On 22/12/2022 at 18:28, L33JRU said:

Thanks man👍 this is taking into account the 7.5 and 8 inch difference in rim as well? 

Yeah the wheel width was taken into account in my maths. 😁

Did I read this correctly, problems sourcing one replacement wheel (are they out of stock?)

 

Instead opted to get 4 Octavia alloys, but then needed spacers, different bolts to fit the spacers, and different size tyres to fit the rims.

 

Just intrigued at relative cost of this change.

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing. It is indeed a costly and extreme venture... Each to their own..